My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Condition: crisp and well-inked impression in excellent/near
pristine condition (i.e. there are no significant tears, holes, abrasions,
stains or foxing, but there is a fine line from the original centre fold, which
is now flattened and virtually invisible, and two specks of white in the
printing have been restored).

I am selling this rare and large etching (note that it does not
feature in any of the major museum online repositories) for the total cost of
AU$172 (currently US$134.46/EUR112.03/GBP99.58 at the time of this listing)
including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this academic study after
Raphael, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you
a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

By design, Fidanza planned this print to be the same size as one
of the heads of the “discepoli d’Archimede” (disciples of Archimedes) from
Raphael’s fresco, “Scuola di Atene” (The School of Athens), 1509–11. According
to an earlier account of the process used by Fidanza published by “A Society of
Gentlemen” in February 3, 1757 (see W Simpkin and R Marshall, “The Critical
Review: Or, Annals of Literature, Volume 3”, p. 174), Fidanza’s approach to
making copies was to oil a sheet of paper so that I would become transparent
and to then use this transparent paper to trace a copy directly from the
original. Heavens to Betsy! … No wonder the old frescoes have darken with time if they had oily copy sheets placed on them!

After comparing the original with the etching, however, I
doubt very much that this process of tracing directly from the original
actually happened as the etched image is not an exact copy of the Raphael’s original
design at all.